pictures forthcoming once I get around to hosting.
I(should say we) got our camper sometime in 2002. I was looking for a TF BBW cab for a buddy for a 4x4 project and finally found a pretty good cab.
There was a problem though. The guy was moving out of state and would only sell the cab if I took the other stuff for a package price of $2500. The TF body has never been my favourite at all and I still only like our camper cause of what it is-not because of its shape.
I knew I could sell the camper if only for its deluxe BBW cab and make my money back so I agreed.
The deal included the BBW cab, a 1/2t frame, 2 stepside beds with fenders, multiple doors, several hoods, extra perfect front fenders, grills, misc. parts, and 4-5 rear axles from camaros and disc caddy, several front camaro suspensions, a volare front suspension and more... and this 55.5 1 ton dually camper with 235/4spd that ran.
I pretty much ignored it except to drive it home. My intent was to IMMEDIATLY sell it. I hadn’t even told my wife about the camper since it held zero interest for me and was parked at my dads.
I concentrated on hauling home all the extra parts I had a use for and the BBW cab I initially wanted.
Wife and I went out to my dads and she saw the camper. We explored it and she fell in love with it(dang!) but she was right-it was CHERRY.
I was technically the 4th owner but I had seen it unused since the second owner and the original owner I am sure had only given it up less than 6 months before.
Apparently he was the longest owner if not the only owner and an older retired man who fished a lot and lived near Davis, CA.
I found fishing stuff, papers and docs to confirm this.
When we finally started picking the thing apart I noted what appeared to be the true original miles of 48,000 and change on the odo. The truck was CLEAN, the 235 ran like a top and pulled all day despite the 7,000# curb weight.
That first summer we drove the 260 mile(one way trip to Yosemite Park) it is supposed to take about 5 hours.
80 flywheel horsepower and 7,000# and very steep hills meant that 9 hours later and several stops for fuel(stock 17.5 gallon tank @12mpg) we finally arrived.
When we got home I threw up the hood and started pulling the motor(sorry guys-this is a functioning truck)
I installed using correct mounts and linkages a more modern SBC with headers as an update, a edelbrock intake and MSD dist all for power and a higher RPM capability to deal with the 7R18 tires and the 5.13 rear axle ratio.
While the truck was down I constructed, welded and sealed(turns out inadequately-rust issues internally) an additional 30 gallon tank I installed ABOVE the driveshaft under the camper body for a total of over 47 gallons.
The SBC gets 12mpg same as the 6 if I keep the 6 cyl speeds.
I don’t.
I installed a flex fan and fought some moderately higher temps in the stock 6 cyl shrouded radiator for a few summers until last summer when I swapped to an AGGRESSIVE fixed pitch 19” fan from summit and now I cant get it to even get above warm =)) I have a OEM stock fan shroud I want to install with a new rad to be able to grab some HP back with a flex fan but for now-this works and was a cheap fix.
Also during that time the 18” tires were starting to show age(not wear) and since I didn’t want to deal with the 3piece wheels and 18” is an odd size unless you are a gangbanger with 60 series I started what turned out to be a 4 year quest to find 19.5 wheels.
Took 2 years to find and 2 years to convince a guy in Portland(9 hours north) to sell them to me.
They came off a 58 dump truck and have the correct ½” stud holes and the 4.56 hub centric center hole and are now wearing a new set of 8R19.5 highway tires.
A small regret-I prefer the look of the 18” wheel and a BIG surprise-the tire/wheel package INCREASED by 30 pounds PER tire/wheel with the switch. That was REALLY disappointing.
Picture of the camper towing my broken 50. We now have about 55,000 miles on her (VANNETTE by the Van Bibber company in Indianapolis, IN) and take the fridge, stove, oven, running water and room for 4 adults into the 3,500’ mountains almost every summer weekend.
Currently in the works is a full 4 wheel disc setup to replace the OEM 12x2 drum brakes and a Gear Vendors overdrive gear splitter to replace the 7.06/3.60/1.70/1.00 and make it (not supposed to use GV in first/second) 7.06/4.94/3.60/2.52/1.70/1.19/1.00/0.70 with a custom driveshaft mounted parking brake to replace the 4psd drum driveshaft parking brake
